History of Bourbon, Scott, Harrison and Nicholas Counties, Kentucky, ed.
by William Henry Perrin, O. L. Baskin & Co., Chicago, 1882. p. 673.
[Harrison County] [Cynthiana City and Precinct]
G. H. PERRIN, retired physician, P. O. Cynthiana; whose portrait appears in
this book, was born near Crab Orchard, Lincoln County, Ky., Nov, 9, 1794,
and is the son of Josephus and Elizabeth Perrin. They were the parents of
twelve children, of whom the Dr. was the second eldest. His paternal
grandfather, Josephus Perrin, Sr., removed from Charlotte County, Va., in
1774, and with his family settled near the Crab Orchard in Lincoln County,
Ky. THis was long before the organization of the State, and during the
most perilous times of the "Dark and Bloody Ground" and while every male
settler was compelled to act in the double capacity of farmer and soldier.
The mother of Dr. Perrin was also a Perrin; her father George Perrin,
having been a farmer in Charlotte County, Va., and in 1784 removed with his
family and settled in Edgefield district, South Carolina. He raised a
family of eight children of whom the mother of this subject was the eldest
daughter. Both these Perrins, together with two other of their brothers,
entered variously into the army during the Revolution, and were soldiers
during the entire war for Independence. The father of Dr. Perrin, Joseph
Perrin, Jr., accompanied his father and family to their new home in
Kentucky, and, although young, soon became conspicuous among the new
settlers for his activity and boldness in aiding to expel the roving hands
of Indians who from time to time made incursions into the new settlements.
After the defeat of Gen. Harmer at the battle of Chillicothe, he aided in
raising a company of volunteers, and as first lieutenant, marched with
his company to the aid of Gen. St. Clair, and was actively engaged in the
battle that terminated in his inglorious defeat. Some years after, having
married in March 1799, he removed with his family to Harrison County and
located on the south fork of the Licking river, about eight miles below
the town of Cynthiana. He then cleared and opened a farm, on which he
reared a large family, and where he resided until his death, in his
seventy-third year. He early took an active part in the political affairs
of his State, and for over twenty years served his country in the
Legislature of the commonwealth having been repeatedly elected to the
Senate and Lower House, and took an important part in the proceedings.
G. H. Perrin, the subject of this sketch, remained on his fathers' farm
until his sixteenth year, in the meantime having the advantages of the
common schools of his neighborhood. During 1811 and 1812, he attended a
select school in Scott County, under Rev. Thomas Smith. In 1813 he
entered Transylvania University, at Lexington, in which institute he
remained until he completed his literary, classical, and medical education.
In 1814, while the war with England was still in progress, he left the
university and volunteered for a six months tour in the army; joined the
16th regiment, and marched with it to join the army of the North-West, at
that time commanded by General McArthur. He was in no general engagement
but had frequent encounters with the Indians. The war with England having
terminated in 1815, his military life at once came to a close. On leaving
the army, and when receiving an honorable discharge, he was highly
complimented by his commander, General Gratiot, for the efficient manner
in which he had discharged the very onerous duties of such a campaign. In
compensation for military service then rendered, he has long been in
reception of a pension from the Government. In the Spring of 1815, he
returned to his home in Kentucky, and not long after he again returned to
Transylvania University, and there remained until he had completed his
medical education, and the last year of this term he was a private student
of the professor of anatomy of the institution, the justly celebrated
Benjamin W. Dudley. Late in the fall of 1817, by the urgent request of
his relatives, he began practice in Edgefield District, S. Car., remaining
there in practice for eight years. At the end of that time, in consequence
of the climate, and his own health having been completely broken down, he
determined to move back to Harrison County, in which he had been raised,
and settled in Cynthiana. For two years he was unable to engage in the
practice, only to a limited extent. As soon as his health was restored he
gradually acquired a large and lucrative practice, which he retained until
near 1840, when his health again failed. Having, however, accumulated a
competency for life, he abandoned forever the practice of medicine. In
November, 1819, he was married to Miss Arabella, daughter of Mr. John
Edwards of Bourbon County. Her paternal grandfather. Col. John Edwards,
upon the organization of the State, was elected by the Legislature one of
the two senators first sent by the State to the Congress of the United
States. Her maternal grandfather, Colonel James Garrard, had fortunately
become the possessor of a patent that had been located on 10,000 acres of
the richest land in Kentucky, and which secured to him a large fortune for
life. He was eight years Governor of Kentucky. With his wife, who still
remains to him, Dr. Perrin has lived a happy life of over sixty years; both
of them, long years ago, became members of the Protestant Episcopal church,
and have ever since remained consistent communicants of the same, and he,
by his extensive charities and large liberality, was among the most
efficient members in originating and placing on a permanent basis the
Church of the Advent, Cynthiana. Having no taste for it, he never engaged
in politics; was a Whig, and voted with that party until its dissolution;
in the late war between the Northern and Southern States he sympathized
strongly with the South, and during the war and since, has voted uniformly
with the Democratic party. His first presidential vote was for James
Monroe. Having hitherto led a very active life, after his retirement from
the practice of medicine, he engaged actively in agricultural pursuits,
and by his untiring energy soon became one of the model farms of the
county. He took great delight in raising fine stock, and was among the
first farmers to introduce into Harrison County the highly prized and
valuable short-horn Durham, which he bred extensively, frequently competing
successfully at the different fairs, with the most approved breeders of
Bourbon and Fayette Counties. For twenty years he enjoyed the pleasures
of a farmer's life, and counts those the happiest years of his life. But,
on the close of the war between the North and South, he, with a large
number of Kentuckians, suffered heavy pecuniary losses by the emancipation
of the negroes; and, being advanced in life, he determined to bring to a
close his agricultural life as a farmer. He consequently sold his
splendid farm of nearly 500 acres, lying adjoining Cynthiana. Not long
afterward he purchased a handsome home within the limits of Cynthiana,
where he now resides, highly esteemed by all who know him as a gentleman
and a Christian.
Perrin Smith Dudley Edwards Garrard
=
Lincoln-KY Fayette-KY Charlotte-VA SC
http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/harrison/perrin.gh.txt